This
month, we calculate the Fog Index of an October 28, 2012, Techcrunch.com
article ("The
Paper I Buy" by John Biggs). This month, we selected a sample not
only because it was of appropriate length for Fog analysis, but also
because it pertains to the digital vs. print debate that rages anew with
the news of Newsweek's print closure.

"I don't read paper
magazines anymore. I bring the New Yorker, in paper form, with me if I'm
traveling somewhere. They won't let me cancel my paper subscription and
just buy a digital one. But I don't mind it. There's a window of time
between take-off and hitting altitude that I need something on paper to
read. Thumbing through the latest New Yorker calms me down a bit.
Sometimes I'll buy a GQ or Esquire, but they're too bulky to carry very
far. They usually end up in the plane seat pocket. I feel like I'm
passing them on to other passengers."

This sample may just have the lowest
pre-edited Fog score in recent Editors Only history. We'd have to
check our archives. The average sentence length is very low, as is the
number of words with three or more syllables. Editors, do you think
there's room for improvement here? Do you think that the Fog index score
is too low? If so, how might you edit this sample? Would you merge some
of the shorter sentences to improve flow? Here are our minor changes:

"I
don't read paper magazines anymore. I bring the New Yorker, in
paper form, with me if I'm traveling somewhere. They won't let me cancel
my paper subscription and just buy a digital one, but I don't mind.
There's a window of time between take-off and hitting altitude when I
need something on paper to read. Thumbing through the latest New
Yorker calms me down a bit. Sometimes I'll buy a GQ or Esquire,
but they're too bulky to carry very far. They usually end up in the
plane seat pocket, so I feel like I'm passing them on to other
passengers."

We
only made a few minor tweaks and merged a few shorter sentences. We
increased the average sentence length from 11 to 15 words. This helped
us to bring the Fog score up to 8 (no rounding). This marks the first
time we've tried to increase the Fog index.

We've included
a link to the source article for your reference. The author discusses
the items he still buys in print (including the New York Times
and comic books) and his predictions for paper. We'd love to hear your
thoughts on either the Fog analysis or Biggs's Techcrunch.com piece.